Golf ball washer and drier



June 18, 1935. v J, C. STUTZ 2,005,115

'GOLF BALL WASHER AND DRIER Filed May l, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l l (ttorneusA June 18, 1935.

J. C. STUTZ GOLF BALL WASHER AND DRIER Filed May l, 1953 2 Sheets-Shetatv 2 AAH-PANINI Patented June 18, 1935 i 2,005,115 GOLF BALL WASHER AND Damn John C. Stutz, Kansas City, Mo.

Application May 1, 1933, Serial No. 668,764

' s claims. (ci. 15-21) l This invention relates to golf ball cleaning and by a pair of similar side brushes 3 and'4, the* drying appliances for use in club houses or at brushes being in' parallel relation andv disposedV selected points of a golf course or links, and my to form a ball-washing channel of which brush d primary object is to produce an appliance char- 2 forms the bottom, and the shafts of the brushes A `5 acterized by subjecting each ball washed to an are journaled at their opposite ends in the front v automatic drying treatment prior to its recovery and rear end walls of the frame'. vertically by the player or his caddy. Heretofore, as far as above and parallel with brush 2 and spaced there-r y I am aware, no device for washing or cleaning from to depend within the said= channel, 4is aa muddy or dirt-discolored ball, has possessed spiral conveyor 5 of substantially greater length l't an yautomatic drying accessory, that is, a means than the frame. The conveyor extends through 10 for effecting a wiping or moisture absorbing acan opening 6 in the rear wall of the frame, and tion or both, and thereby avoid the necessity of its shaft is journaled at its front end in the :front hand-wiping the ball with a towel or the like. wall of the frame and at its rear end, in a beari l Another `object is to provide a construction ing bracket secured as shownisee Figure 8), or y l having a rCCClCtaClClild means fOl SuCCeSSVely otherwise, to the frame. To avoid undesirable 15 delivering cleaned and wiped balls to said recepweight and yet have stability, the bracket comtacle from which they may be removed in conprises a, base 'I, an arm 8, and a pair of side dition OI instant U-SC, by player O1 Caddy. arms 9', the base being `shown as secured to the A Still further ObJ'CCt iS t0 prOdllCe a Cleaning rear wall of the frame. rThe bracket, as shown,

2O and drying deViCe 0f unlimited CapaCty, WhiCl'l has yother parts and Yfunctions hereinafter men- 20`y Cannot 010g, WhiCh Shields the Operative Parts tioned. The brush-formedfchannel for washing" to avoid Chance of injury to the hands' or Cloththe balls provides a path for the trave1 of each ing, 'and in Which PIOVSOH iS made for' the ball, and the spiral conveyor depends within the ready removal of the tank for the quick discharge channel far enough to Overlap and engage a bau of muddy and replenishment of clean water or 01- baus in the ChanneL y ,Y 25

solutions. To impel travel of the ball rearwardly within Another ObJ'CCt iS t0 DYOVi-C a magazine fol the'channel, the conveyor -is rotated,`and to efholding a number of balls, and means for effectfeci; Such action, its Shaft .is provided at. its ing successive delivery ofthe balls to the cleanfrom; end with a, hand whe1 igxexte'ror to the. ing Clements, in SDaCCd- I'ClatOn- Y frame, part of the handle being preferably in 30V With the Objects named in VCW, and Others the form ofa disk equipped at its rearside with of a tributary character, the invention consists .a'cam II for e, purpose hereinafter explained, incertain new and useful features of oonstruo- It is desirable that the brushes shalirotate, asby tion and combinations of parts as hereinafter e0 doing they will scrub the ball more efciently described and claimed; and in order that it may and mud accumulated from the. )99,115 will.' be 35 be fully understood, reference is to be had to readily disiodgedand fail interne cleaning 1iquid the aCCOmDaIlying drawings, in Whichior solution tank I2, in the contents of'whichbrush Figure lis a top plan View of a combined golf 2 is almost wholly and brushes 3 and 4 are parball washer and drier. l v' tially immersed. The tank receives the 'lower 40 Figure 2 is a side elevation of the appliance. part of the frame I and, as shown, has outstandf 40 Figure 3 is a central Vertical longitudinal secing lugs I3 for detachable engagement by a pair tion of theV appliance. of spring catches I4 or the like on the frame.

Figure 4 is a rear end view of the appliance. The tank encloses the frame to about the level Figure 5 is a cross section on the line V-V of thebottom of the ball channel, so thatno of Figure 2. packing or the like,'is necessary against leakagel 45 i Figure 6 is a front end View With the handof the liquid through the bearing openings prowheel broken away. l n vided for the shaft of brush 2, and in' this Vcon- Figure 7 is a section on the line VII-VII of nection it will be notedthat the opening 6' in Figure 6, with the ball magazine broken away. the rear wall of the frame, has a reduced ex- Figure 8 is a fragmentary perspective view of tensionl I5 in line with the ball channel,v for the 50 the rear end of the frame and a bracket for the escape of the cleaned balls (see Figures 3 and8) support of ball drying elements. Any suitable power-transmission may be'em- In the said drawings, I indicates a rigid recployed between the' conveyor shaft and thel tangular frame and within the same is a cylin` brushes, that shown being a train of `gear Wheels 5 drical rotary brush 2, flanked at opposite sides I6,-I1, I8 and I 9, onthe shafts ofthe conveyor 55 and rotary brushes 3, 4 and 2, respectively. The gear wheels I1, I8 and I9 are immersed more or less in the water or solution in the tank (Figure 3), and to avoid corrosive action all the shafts and the gearing and the conveyor should be of non-corrosive metal.

A magazine for receiving a plurality of balls and feeding them successively to the conveyor at the front end thereof, is in the form of an upright-tube 20, shown as. supported by a cover 2| for the frame, and to prevent but one ball at a time dropping on the conveyor in each revolution thereof, a spring plate 22 is secured to and projects into the tube to normally constrict thel passage thereof, and said plate is caused to move outward once in each revolution bythe cam I I of rthe hand-wheel, tripping a small bell-'crank lever 23 linked as at 24 to the free or lower end of the spring plate, the latter returning to its normal position through its resiliency, mmediately the cam clears the bell crank. yTo insure theA retention of the ball within the washing `channel and in contact with the three brushes until ejected by the conveyor through the extension I5 of opening 6 in the rear wall of the frame, the brushes 3 and 4 are about in peripheral contact with the conveyor (see Figure 5). Each ball as fed by the conveyor into the channel must pass between the conveyor and brush 3, and to enable it to pass, thelatter has a peripheral pocket 25, so disposed that as each ball passes downward beyond the axis of the conveyor, it enters said pocket (see Figure 5), and remains therein until the pocket is about in the horizontal plane of the axes of the brushes 3 and 4, and the ball is forced out and` under the then overlying conveyor, and by centrifugal force, out of the pocket and into ,the washing channel where it is in contact with all of the brushes and its upper part ris far enough within the groove or channel of the conveyor to be caused to travel rearwardly while subjected to the scrubbing action off the rotatingbrushes, it being obvious that as all of the brushes are partly immersed in the ,liquid of the tank, their turning action results in mud gathered from the balls, being dislodged into and dissolved bythe liquid, and because of this many balls may be cleaned Without frequent replenishing of the supply of liquid.

, To provide for a drying treatment of the balls as they successively pass through the openingextension I5, a stationary drier, such as a ,brush or the like of substantially U-shape in cross-section and open at its ends, provides in effect an extension of the ball channel. As shown, the drier is composed of three brush elements, a bottoms` one 26 and two side ones 21. The bristles 'face inwardly, and the conveyor depends within the drying channel so asto force the balls to travel rearwardly against the bristlesfor the removal of the moisture from the balls, and the travel should be long enough to insurea substantially complete drying treatment by the time the balls reach' the rear end of the conveyor. To avoid the necessity of a player or caddy being ready to catch each ball as it isejected bythe conveyor at the rear end of the drying element, a perforated tube 2,8 is disposed to receive the successively discharged balls and deliver them to a cage 29 from which they are removed when desired. The cage is pref'. erably supported from the leg structure 30 or other suitable support, of the frame, the leg structure shown being such that it does not interfere with the ready removal land replacement of the tank. yThe drying element or brush is preferably tions or elements, have longitudinal ribs 3I slidably fitting channel bars 32 flanking the side elements and underlying the bottom element. 'I'he side channels are shown as integrally formed with the bracket arms 8, and the bottom channel bar is made integral with the. side bars by arcuate connecting sections 33. Clamping screw ,34 may be employed to hold the brush elements against accidental shifting or displacement, or the removable yoke 35 may serve the same purpose, the yoke being secured to and depending from the rear part of the bracket and forming a support for the upper end of the tube 28, the opposite end of the tube being preferably supported within a collar 3S secured to the receptacle 29. As frequent rapidly-recurring operations ma wet the'dryingjelement slightly so that the balls leave it not thoroughly dry, it is desirable that the tube 28 shall be of foraminous type for utilizing air circulation as an aid in the drying operaframe and brushes to slope upwardly toward the f This can be `most simply and cheaply accomplished by making the front part of the leg structure shorter (not shown) than the rear part,

Vby blocking lup the rear legs, or in any other ments, if it is of sectional construction as shown,

the yoke 35 is removed. If set screws 34 are employed either in associationV with the yoke or in the absence of the latter, such set screws will have to be partly unscrewed. When held by neither the ring nor set screws-the drying .element as a whole, or sectionally, rcan be slid out of engagement with the bars 32. f Y.

Normally a ball dropped into the magazinenis i caught andv held by the spring plate, the latter being stiff enough to support a column of .a half dozen orV more balls.v The hand wheel is then` turned in the direction indicated by the arrow, Figure 6, as a pawl and ratchet mechanism v`v40 inhibits reverse movement. As the pocket 25 of brush 3 attains a position under the magazine, the cam II passes and operates the bell-crank, and the plate 22 is sprung outward to permit the engaging ball to drop, and then freed to snap back and catch the next ball. The dropped ball enters the brush pocket so that as the brush 3 and conveyor continue their turning movement, the ball is brought to a position below the axis of the conveyor and in the horizontal plane of the washing channel. As it attains such position, it is pro-k-v jecting into the channel and either falls or is forced out of the pocket to lie wholly within the channel, it being caused to travel rearwardly because it continues to project into the groove of the rotating conveyor. Under this travel and the scrubbing it gets from the Wet rotating brushes forming its underlying and side supports, it is thoroughly cleansed by the time it reaches and is forced through opening extension l into the drying element or brush, along which it travels under the force of the conveyor until the latter ejects it into the tube 28 and it passes to the receptacle 29.

As the rst full revolution-starting With the brush pocket 25 in ball-receiving position at the bottom of the magazine-is completed, a secondtripping of the spring-plate is effected and another ball dropped from the magazine, this second ball and each succeeding one being spaced one revolution of the conveyor behind the preceding ball. It will be apparent, therefore, that the magazine can be charged to capacity and the balls will pass through the Washing and drying elements without conflict and without contact one with another. It is essential that the conveyor and brush 3 shall turn cooperatively and at the saine speed, so that the pocket shall receive and insure passage of the balls to the Washing channel. The direction and speed of rotation of brushes 2 and 4 is unimportant as the latter, even though it may tend to lift the ball in the channel, is too close to the conveyor for a ball to escape from the channel between said brush and the conveyor, and a differential speed Will, in fact, increase the frictional contact with the ball and hence scrub it more effectively than if all the brushes turned at the same speed.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced a device possessing all of the features of advantage set forth as desirable, and While I have described the preferred embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that Irreserve the right to all changes properly falling Within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

1. In a golf ball Washer and cleaner, a bottom and two flanking cleaners of cylindrical form disposed in parallelism to form a ball-receiving channel, a rotary spiral conveyor above the "bottom cleaner and depending into said channel and in close relation to the flanking cleaners to inhibit lateralpassage of a ball between either of the last-named cleaners and the conveyor from the channel, one of the flanking cleaners having a peripheral pocket to receive a ball at and While engaged by the front end o-f the groove of the con- Y veyor, and cooperate with the latter in carrying the ball to and ejecting -it from the pocket into the channel Without disengaging it from the groove of the conveyor.

,2. A device of the character described, comprising a frame having inlet and exit ball-passage openings, a tank detachably secured to and undei-lying the frame, a bracket projecting from vthe exit-opening end of the frame around said exit opening and provided with a ball discharge opening alined with said exit opening, a rotary spiral conveyor journaled in and extending through the frame and bracket with its axis `in a plane parallel with and above the axis of said openings, a rotary brush Within the frame and underlying and spaced from the conveyor, a pair of rotary brushes iianking and in a plane between those of the rst-named brush and conveyor and in close proximity peripherally with said firstnamed brush and conveyor,'the top of the tank lying in a plane above that of thebottom ofthe anking brushes, and means underlying the con- Veyor exteriorly of the frame and forming a drier for golf balls and a guide to direct the balls to said discharge opening of the bracket.

3. In a device of the character described, a frame adapted for receiving a golf ball and provided with a ball-discharge opening in one end wall, a rotatable spiral ball-conveyor extending through said discharge opening, a series of rotary brushes geared to andparalleling the conveyor and depending to a plane below that of saidk opening and providing a channel to hold balls in engagement with the conveyor and in alinernent with said opening for passage therethrough,

shafts for .said brushes, iournaled in the front and 

